BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The Binghamton Rumble Ponies, the Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets, announced on Wednesday that Kevin Boles will be the baseball team’s new manager for the 2019 season.
Boles, 43 joins the New York Mets organization after spending the last 11 seasons managing in the Boston Red Sox system. He spent the last five years as the manager of the Pawtucket Red Sox — Boston’s Triple-A affiliate.
“It is an honor to join the organization and I’m very excited to get started,” Boles said in a Rumble Ponies news release. “We will do our best to develop championship-quality players for the New York Mets.”
Boles led Pawtucket to one International League championship, winning the Governor’s Cup in 2014. Baseball America recognized him in 2018 as the International League’s “Best Managerial Prospect,” per the release.
Before Pawtucket, Boles managed in the Eastern League with the Portland Sea Dogs from 2011 through 2013.
Boles is the 16th manager in Binghamton franchise history and the second to lead the team since it became the Rumble Ponies, the release stated. The previous Rumble Ponies manager, Luis Rojas, was recently elevated to the New York Mets major league coaching staff as quality control coach.
The 2019 baseball season will be Boles’ 20th year as a manager or full-time coach in minor-league baseball. The Chicago native made his managerial debut in 2000 at the age of 25 with the GCL Marlins, a Rookie-level team. He also spent time on various minor-league coaching staffs within the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins organizations before joining the Red Sox in 2008.
Boles played college baseball at the University of South Florida before the Chicago Cubs selected him in the 42nd round of the 1998 Major League Baseball draft. After two seasons as a player, he followed his father’s footsteps into managing.
Boles’ first game as Binghamton Rumble Ponies skipper is April 4, 2019 against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com